The Changing Tide
by The-Sarcasmo
Summary: After the defeat of the four Saint Beasts, Yusuke and Keiko finally acknowledge their feelings, and his job as spirit detective is revealed. But as he becomes committed to his position, he uncovers a plot that will change his life forever.
1. Chapter 1: Boredom

Yusuke lied on his back, staring up at the sky from the rooftop of his school. He boredly watched the clouds slowly make its trek across the sky, not knowing what else he could be doing. School had started hours ago, but he definitely wasn't going to show up for any of his classes. The only reason why he still went to school everyday was to be close to Keiko when school finally let out.

Of course he would never tell Keiko that. As soon as the bell sounded, he would rush downstairs and out the front gates, pretending like he just happened to be passing by while out being a delinquent. Though to be honest, after Koenma forced him to take on the job as Spirit Detective after defeating the Four Beasts, there wasn't much fun in being a run of the mill delinquent. None of the other so-called tough kids stood a chance against him. The only thing that was fun anymore was hassling Keiko.

Yusuke yawned as he saw the last of a cloud disappear into the horizon. Just as it left his sight, he noticed something flying across the sky. He smiled a little as he noticed the particular swoop as it flew directly towards him. Thank God it was Botan. If he had to go another day without something to do...

Botan landed next to him as he lazily got to his feet.

"Never thought I'd be so glad to see the grim reaper," Yusuke said.

"Well aren't you quite the charmer," Botan said as she dismounted her broom.

"Yeah Yeah. I take it there some badass demon out there that needs their ass kicked?"

"Well...not exactly." Botan said as she looked down on some students in gym class.

"Don't tell me I still have to keep sitting on my ass."

"No," she said, turning to face him again. "Lucky for you there seems to be a sudden surge of vampires in the area. So you get to go out hunting."

"Vampires? You mean those guys with fangs and lame ass capes?"

"That's just in the movies," Botan said, rolling her eyes. "Vampires are just humans who drink other humans' blood. If they drink enough of it, they temporarily get a rush of that person's spirit energy coursing through their veins."

"So that means..."

"That _means_ they become stronger and faster than your average person."

"In other words, they just become another punk that's not worth my time," Yusuke said as he sat down again.

"Oh sure, its not like you became a Spirit Detective to save people's lives."

"Damn right I didn't! You guys forced me into this gig and you don't even have the decency to give me worthwhile cases."

"Really? So nearly dying while defeating the Four Saint Beasts counts as worthwhile? Which, by the way, you only managed to do with the help of Kuwabara and the others."

"Alright, I get your point. I'm not the ultimate badass. So if these vampires are just regular humans, how am I supposed to find them?"

"You don't. They'll find you. You see, when Vampires drink blood enough times -"

_RING!_

The school bell went off, signaling the end of the day.

"Sorry, gotta go!" Yusuke said as he took off running.

"But I haven't finished explaining!" Botan said, chasing after him.

"I know! But does it look like i give a crap?" he said with a smile.

"Oh Yusuke," Botan sighed, giving up the chase. "Say 'hi' to Keiko for me!"

Yusuke sat on the curb a few blocks away from school, right in the middle of Keiko's usual route home. He would almost consider himself a stalker if he didn't know it was because he was so bored, and if he didn't know Keiko liked seeing him more often. He knew that no matter what he did, and how long he stayed or left, she would always be happy to see him.

He saw Keiko walking down the street just like she always did. She pretended to ignore him as she passed him, just like she always did. He got up and started walking behind her, wondering which gag to pull this time. Lifting her dress. Grabbing her ass. Maybe today would be the day he would grab her breasts. But before he could any of those things, Keiko turned around and acknowledged his existence.

"You weren't at school today," Keiko said, glaring at him.

"Your point being," Yusuke said, looking away.

"You're already far behind. Anymore and they'll kick you out of school for good."

"You're right, that is good."

"You know what I mean," she said

"Yeah, I do," he said, kicking at a pebble. "I just don't get what the big deal is. Even if I start to go again its not like I'm gonna magically get straight A's or something."

"Its not about the grades Yusuke."

"Then what is it about miss goody too shoes?"

"Its about being able to see you!" Keiko said, turning red.

Yusuke fell silent as she continued.

"If you get kicked out of school, then the only time I get to see you is when your following me home trying to molest me."

"Yeah, well..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say or do. He suddenly wished he had finished listening to what Botan had to say. Fighting supernatural freaks was a lot less uncomfortable than the conversation.

"Well..." Keiko said expectantly.

"How about, if you want, we go catch a movie or something. You know. If you want."

"But what about-"

"AND afterwards, we can talk about me going to school, or whatever."

"I don't know," she said. "Last time you asked me out to a movie you ended up disappearing for 3 days."

"Oh yeah," Yusuke said, recalling how he got called in on the case against the Four Saint Beasts. "Well that's because you chose some foreign film. Choose something without subtitles and I promise it'll be different."

"Fine," she said, after hesitating a moment. Yusuke could tell that she was trying to hold back a smile.

"Alright. So...should we go now?"

"Its a date."


	2. Chapter 2: Ambush

Yusuke and Keiko left the movie theater and walked down the street in silence. It was dark now, with the dimly lit street hiding the feeling of awkwardness that they felt. Especially Yusuke, who had never treated Keiko so lady-like before. It was a new experience for both of them, and from the looks of it was going to take awhile to adjust.

Yusuke noticed his shoe lace was untied, and stopped to bend over and tie it. It was in that moment that he noticed someone skulking in the shadows just outside of the soft glow of the streetlight. Maybe it was nothing. After all, it could just be another movie-goer on their way home. But the way the person stayed just outside of the light seemed to weird. What was it that Botan said? You don't find vampires, they find you.

That was fine with Yusuke, until he remembered that he was with Keiko. That meant he had to protect her while still hiding his abilities from her. He hoped that it if it was a vampire, they would be just as weak as he imagined. He bent down and deliberately tied his shoe as slowly as possible, but it wasn't necessary. Within moments the figure burst from his shadowy hiding place and tried to stab him in the back of the head with a knife.

A knife? Seriously?

Yusuke made a small bubble of spirit energy that prevented the knife from penetrating, flinging it from his assailants hands. It looked like it was going to be an easy battle after all. But as soon as Yusuke stood up to face his opponent, he heard Keiko scream behind him. He turned his head and saw that there were at least two others trying to grab her. This wasn't good. He couldn't use his Shotgun Blast because Keiko was in the way, but there were also too many for him to use his Spirit Gun alone.

He kicked at the guy in front of him, but the vampire easily evaded it. This time Yusuke gave a one-two punch, but twice again, the vampire evaded both punches. This left Yusuke confused, since Botan had said their abilities were only after they drank blood. Then again, he did leave while she was in the middle of explaining something.

He heard Keiko scream again and he turned around to see one of the vampires had a knife to her throat, while the other held what looked like a bowl in front of her to catch the blood. So that was it. No fangs. Just pure sadistic murder.

"Keiko!" Yusuke screamed as he turned and aimed his Spirit Gun, his fingertip glowing.

His assailant took advantage of the distraction and lunged at him, but Yusuke gave him a back-kick having anticipated it. The other vampire held the knife steady at Keiko's throat, knowing once her blood was spilled Yusuke would fire.

"Take that!" said a high pitched voice as a wooden broom landed on the vampire's head. Botan had showed up and taken action. She put the broom back into flying position and held out her hand to Keiko. "Get on!"

"What're-" Keiko asked confused.

"It flies. Don't ask questions just get on!"

"Yusuke-"

"Can take care of himself!" Botan finished. "NOW LETS GO!"

Keiko, confused, sat on the broom and then Botan took off. By this time, Yusuke was fighting the other two vampires whom Botan hadn't cracked their skulls. One of the vampires was easy to hit, and wasn't much of a threat. But the other one was fast and strong, which kept him from finishing off the other. He kept having to turn back and forth to block their attacks, leaving him with no chance to make his own attacks, including his spirit gun.

Giving up, Yusuke turned around and sprinted as fast as he could for a few seconds. Afterwards, he charged up his fist with Spirit Energy and spun around. The two vampires were right in front of him, running so close to each other their shoulders were almost touching.

Good, he thought.

"SHOTGUN!" Yusuke yelled as he released the blast of Spirit Energy on them. It was a devastating blow as almost a hundred pieces of energy made contact on their bodies. They vampires flew back, unconscious.

Yusuke sighed in relief as he walked over to their sleeping bodies. He then heard police sirens, and knew it was his time to leave. Keiko and Botan were waiting for him.


	3. Chapter 3: Out in the Open

Yusuke looked over his shoulder to make sure there was no one following him down the street to his house. He didn't see anyone on the street or in the shadows, but since he wasn't as spiritually aware as Kuwabara, someone could be there and he would never know it. Now that he thought of it, he could use Kuwabara's awareness in his revenge against the vampires.

No one could attack Keiko and get away with it.

He walked up to Keiko's house and looked over his shoulder one last time and then knocked on the door. To his surprise, it was Botan who answered the door.

"Hey Yusuke," she said and stepped aside so he could go in.

"Is Keiko alright?" Yusuke asked, concern in his voice.

"I'm fine!" Keiko yelled from the bathroom.

"Good," he said with a sigh of relief. "Wait, then what're you doing in the bathroom? You feeling sick or something?"

There was a flush, the sound of the sink bing used, and a moment later Keiko stepped out.

"None of your business!" she replied.

"Whew," Yusuke grinned, waving his hand in the air in mock disgust. "You really let one go!"

"Yusuke you jerk!" Keiko said and slapped him.

Yusuke rubbed his cheek as Keiko went and sat on the sofa.

"Did you really have to say that, Yusuke?" Botan said, holding her head in irritation

"Couldn't resist," he said and went over to join Keiko on the sofa. He attempted to put his arm around her but she scooted out of his reach. "What's going on?"

"I want to know why you neglected to tell me about your dangerous job as spirit detective." Keiko said. Yusuke looked over at Botan.

"Well, I had to tell her everything, and I mean everything, in order to explain why my broom could fly," Botan defended.

"Uh oh," Yusuke said aloud. He was gearing up for another slap on the face.

"So all this time you've been going around, risking your life and fighting demons?" Keiko said with anger in her eyes. "What, fighting with every kid you run into on the street was too boring for you?"

"Its not like that," Botan defended. "Yusuke really didn't have much of a choice. It was either be given a second chance at life and become a spirit detective or refuse and stay dead forever."

"So are you saying its your fault?" Keiko said, shifting her piercing gaze at Botan.

"Well...uh..." Botan stammered, resisting the urge to just fly away.

"Listen Keiko," Yusuke said. " It's not her fault. I chose to take the deal and I chose not to tell you about it. I'm sorry that I've been lying to you all this time. It was too keep you safe and from worrying about me. As for tonight, I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you. I had no idea they were going to attack us like they did. Can you forgive me?"

"Oh, Yusuke. So selfless as always," Keiko said, with tears in her eyes. "You think I'm mad at you for that? I know you. You have a good heart. You'll do whatever it takes to keep me and everyone else safe. I'm just worried about you risking your life to save everybody. I just...I don't want to lose you again."

Keiko scooted over to Yusuke and laid her head on his shoulder. Yusuke wrapped his arms around her and held her, kissing the top of her head.

"Well I'm just going to get going now that it has gotten all awkward," Botan said. "I'll stop by tomorrow so we can finish talking about the vampires."

"Alright, Botan," Yusuke said, not really paying attention. The only thing he noticed was the warmth of Keiko's body in his arms.


	4. Chapter 4: Where Were We?

Yusuke was ditching class once again and waiting on the school's rooftop. The difference this time was the fact that he wasn't bored, he was anxious. He wished Botan would hurry up so she could tell him more about the vampires he wanted revenge on, and he wasn't alone.

When Yusuke told Kuwabara about what happened to Keiko, he was furious that anyone would try and attack a girl. His sense of chivalry mandated that he join Yusuke after the "cowardly chicken-shits" and teach them a lesson. With all the trouble the stronger vampire gave Yusuke, so for once he was glad to have back-up. But with his eyes trained on the horizon, he neglected to notice that someone else was on the roof with them.

"My Yusuke, you seriously need to learn how to pay more attention," Botan said from behind him. Yusuke twirled around in surprise.

"How the hell did you get up here?" Yusuke asked.

"I took the stairs silly," she replied. "Hi Kuwabara."

"Well hello there pretty lady," Kuwabara said, stepping closer to her.

"Oh. Hello Kuwabara," Botan said with indifference as she subconsciously took a step away from him.

"Alright," Yusuke said. "Now that you're here, can we get down to business?"

"Right," Botan said. "I'll finish telling you about vampires before you blew me off for Keiko yesterday. Speaking of which, how is she doing?"

"She seemed okay when I walked with her this morning," Yusuke said. "Just a little shaken up. I'm going to walk her home once school lets out."

"OOo," Kuwabara said tauntingly.

"Shut up," Yusuke said, putting Kuwabara in a headlock.

"Boys..." Botan said, rolling her eyes. She waited a minute for them to break up. "Can we move on now?"

"Sure thing, cutie," Kuwabara said, giving her his full attention.

"OOo," Yusuke said.

"Shut up, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, this time putting Yusuke in the headlock.

"Oh why do I even bother," Botan said, shaking her head in frustration.

"Because I'm the only spirit detective you got," Yusuke said, breaking away from Kuwabara's hold.

"If only it were true..." Botan said under her breath.

"What?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh nothing! Where was I?" Botan asked pensively.

"Well," Yusuke said. "You were just about to explain what kind of powers these vampires have."

"Right. Well, as I told you before, vampires drink people's blood to gain spirit energy. Most of the energy leaves their system after a few hours, but some of it stays forever. After awhile, they can become dangerously strong."

"So that's why one of them was a lot stronger than the others," Yusuke said.

"Right," Botan said. "That also means the longer it takes for you to find them, the stronger they'll all get."

"They won't be able to hide from me," Kuwabara said. "I can sense strong spiritual energy a mile away, literally."

"The same goes for them," Botan said. "That's why they were drawn to you, Yusuke. Along with increased strength their spiritual awareness increases too. It makes it easier to find good targets."

"Great," Yusuke said. "Between the two of us we should light up like a Christmas tree. Let's go Kuwabara."

"You won't find them now!" Botan said, annoyed of their impatience. "Its daylight right now. They attack at night so there aren't that many witnesses."

"You mean I have to sit here and do nothing until nightfall!" Yusuke yelled. "That blows!"

"Well unlike you, they're actually smart and plan things out," Botan retorted.

"Whatever," Yusuke said. "Come on, Kuwabara. Let's go."

"Bye Botan," Kuwabara said while giving her a creepy smile.

Botan glared at both of them as the passed her.

"Stupid boys," she said.


	5. Chapter 5: Bad Timing and Good Timing

"I can't believe we've looked all day and still haven't found any vampires," Yusuke said.

"Botan said they usually didn't come out until nighttime," Kuwabara said, blushing at the thought of the pretty blue haired girl.

"Stupid Botan," Yusuke groaned. "She should've tried to stop us or something. It's barely sunset and now I'm too tired to look around, let alone fight."

The duo were crossing a sparsely populated park, and Yusuke decided to take a seat at the nearest bench. Kuwabara sat down too, kicking the shoes off his tired and swollen feet. Kuwabara sighed in relief. Yusuke gagged in disgust from the smell.

"Dude put your shoes back on," Yusuke complained.

"Nuh-uh. My feet hurt too much from all that walking you made us do," Kuwabara defended.

"Nobody made you do anything! You didn't have to tag along. I would've been just fine!"

"We both know Keiko would've killed you for ditching her if I hadn't reminded you to walk her home. You owe me, so that means the shoes stay off!"

Yusuke knew that was true and decided to shut up, well, at least about the smell. He figured everything else was fair game still. Now if he could somehow find a way to make a crack at how ugly Kuwabara is...

Kuwabara suddenly sat up, looking around with his eyes but not turning his head. Then he casually leaned over and started to put his shoes back on.

"You finally realized how much they smell?" Yusuke said.

"They're here," Kuwabara whispered.

"Yeah they were really stinking up the place," Yusuke said loudly, looking dead into Kuwabara's eyes to let him know he understood. The vampires had tracked them down.

"Yeah, I felt sorry for all the birds and stuff. I think I saw 6 nests all around the park," Kuwabara said, keeping up with the code. There were 6 vampires surrounding them, which wasn't good. On the bright side, Yusuke was surprised at how smart they were with the codes, considering they were both on the brink of dropping out of school.

"Well I guess we should just-"

Then they both heard a rush of footsteps as the vampires charged at them from all sides. They had strength in numbers, and they knew it.

Yusuke shot his Spirit Gun at the first one he saw and turned to focus on the next closest one; he didn't have time to see if his shot landed. He landed a strong punch on the second one and threw a kick at where he thought the third one would be. He hit nothing but air and was kicked by the first vampire who managed to dodge the spirit gun. The kick was fairly weak and only stunned him, but the third vampire landed a surprisingly strong punch, knocking him to the ground.

Kuwabara knocked the first vampired down with a kick and threw the second one over his shoulder. The third vampire was stronger and he had a hard time blocking the attacks. From what he sensed, the vampires that attacked him were weaker than the ones that attacked Yusuke, which meant they were probably underestimating him. He would show them.

Kuwabara jumped back out of attack range and drew his Spirit Sword, the yellow glow lighting up the scene. But then he started to feel light headed, and he knew he still having trouble controlling his Spirit Energy. He hit a weaker vampire with his Spirit Sword, and the strong one used the opportunity to lunge in and land a strong punch to the face. Being stubborn, he managed to stay on his feet and blindly swung his sword to keep his enemies back.

Yusuke kicked off a weaker vampire and jumped to his feet just in time to get kicked in the chest by the strong one. He fell back down as he felt the air escape his lungs. They were losing. Yusuke rolled backwards and jumped to his feet once more and charged up his fist for a Shotgun blast, when suddenly a small streak of black dashed between the vampires. One second later, they all collapsed to the ground.

Kuwabara lunged his sword at the stronger vampire and missed. Then a flash of green struck the vampire on the back and then collapsed on the ground. The other two he was fighting were also on the ground.

They both looked up and saw two familiar faces standing in between them.

"Hello there," Kurama said with a smile.

"Don't waste your breath on these weaklings," Hiei said with a scowl.


	6. Chapter 6: Fools

"What're you guys doing here?" Yusuke asked Hiei and Kurama.

"Saving you fools from a couple of thug vampires thats what," Hiei scoffed.

"A couple of vampires?" Kuwabara said. "There were like six of 'em!"

"Four of them were weaklings not even worth fighting," Hiei said. "Which leaves only two real fighters and you couldn't even handle them on your own."

"In our defense, we were running all over town today so we were tired." Yusuke said.

"Which goes to show just how foolish you two really are. Vampires like to strike at night so there aren't any witnesses."

"Well I thought we could get a head start," Yusuke said. "Anyways, why are you guys really here? Its not like you to go out of your way to save us."

"We're cutting the strings Koenma still has attached to us," Hiei said.

"Huh? I thought Koenma let you go."

"What he means," Kurama said. "When we helped you with the Saint Beasts we were released on parole, so to speak. If we help you out with the recent infestation we can move around freely, no strings attached."

"Then I can finally move on to more important things," Hiei said.

"Like what?" Kuwabara asked.

"Thats none of your concern," Hiei said, rubbing his Jagan eye.

"Whatever," Kuwabara scowled.

"Whatever is right," Yusuke said. "I don't care what your reasons are for helping us. We should be focusing on how to get rid of the vampires in the city."

"Most vampires group together in nests." Kurama said. "A city this size probably only has one or two nests, but they wont be easy to take down. Hiei already used his Eye to sense were our friends are hiding but..."

"But you fools were on the wrong side of town and the terms of the deal were to work with you, not for you," Hiei finished. "Since its dark now, the vampires are scattered all over the city hunting, so the nest is empty."

"Its best to re-group before dawn when they've returned to rest." Kurama said.

"But what about the victims tonight. Shouldn't we help them?" Yusuke asked.

"Then the vampires would know we're on to them," Hiei said. "Its best to surprise them all at once."

"We can't just leave innocent people to get killed for the sake of better strategy!" Kuwabara said.

"That just shows how stupid you really are," Hiei said.

"No! We're going to help those people," Yusuke said, glaring at Hiei.

Hiei paused for a second as he looked at the conviction in Yusuke's eyes. He closed his own eyes for a second and then looked back at Yusuke.

"The closests ones are at the movie theater a few blocks away. Do what you want," Hiei said and vanished.

"I'll take care of those vampires," Kurama said. "You two should rest for now. Its gonna be a hard fight at the nest."

"Thanks Kurama," Yusuke said.

"Yeah, thanks," Kuwabara repeated.

Kurama nodded, and then walked away into the night.


	7. Chapter 7: Mission Accomplished

Yusuke rolled in his bed, discontent at the buzzing of his alarm clock. He hadn't used it in so long that he hoped it was no longer working, giving him an excuse to not meet up with Kuwabara and the others at the ass-crack of dawn. No such luck. He sat up in bed and turned off the alarm, looking at his pillow longingly. He could still say his alarm never went off...

There was a knock on the front door, followed by the door opening and closing. Yusuke thought it was just his mom coming back from another night of drinking, until he remembered she was already asleep when he got back. Not to mention she would stumble loudly inside instead of knocking politely.

"Kurama is that you?" Yusuke yelled out.

"Yes its me," Kurama said in a hushed voice as he stepped into the light of the room. "You should be more quiet, your mom is asleep on the sofa."

"More like passed out," Yusuke replied. "She won't wake up for awhile. I guess you're here to make sure I woke up, huh."

"Yep. You and Kuwabara are still just kids after all."

"Whatever. Lets get this over with so I can go back to sleep."

"Alright. We'll meet up with Hiei and Kuwabara at the nest."

They headed out the door and started the long walk across town. The cool breeze of the early morning brought shivers as they trudged on. After what seemed like forever, they saw two figures – one tall and one short – waiting underneath a street light in a run down neighborhood. If it hadn't been so early in the morning, Yusuke would've been worried about running into rival gangs. Good thing time was on their side.

"Took you long enough," Hiei said.

"Why, how long have you been waiting?" Kurama asked.

"Almost twenty minutes now," he replied.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Yusuke asked. "Kuwabara doesn't live that far away from me, it should've taken us the same time."

"Stupid Hiei woke me up and ran off into the night," Kuwabara said. "He made me run after him or else I would get left behind."

"I don't have time to waste with you," Hiei scoffed.

"You're right, we don't have any time to waste. So lets get this over with so I can go back to sleep," Yusuke said.

"Agreed," Hiei said. "I haven't seen anybody come in or out since earlier this morning. Which means the nest is as full as its going to be."

"Lets do this," Kuwabara said.

The group nodded and ran up a hill towards an abandoned house, the windows all boarded up. They reached the front door, and Yusuke put his ear to the door. He heard muffled voices, and judged there to be at least five people in the front room, scattered evenly. Yusuke backed from the door and held up five fingers. Hiei shook his head and pointed at his headband which covered his Eye, and held up eight fingers. There were more in the other rooms. Yusuke nodded, raised his leg, and kicked in the door.

"Shotgun!" Yusuke yelled as the door flung open. Yusuke and the others ran inside as the blast knocked two vampires down and scattered the others.

Hiei dashed to the farthest vampire and swung his sheathed sword in a lightning strike. Kuwabara formed his spirit sword and started to fight the nearest vampire. Kurama, unarmed, began to fight the last one in the room, taking special care to not severely injure his opponent.

Yusuke moved on to find the other three hiding somewhere in the house. He opened the first door he saw, and stepped back not from fear, but from the stench. There were three dead bodies stacked on top of each other in the tiny bathroom, all of them with their throats cut open. Yusuke slammed the door shut in a rage, and kicked open the next door down.

There sat the last three vampires, drinking blood from bowls like it was tomato soup. Yusuke screamed and did another shotgun blast. One of them was knocked out instantly, but the other two managed to block it in time. Not wasting time, Yusuke quickly rushed over and kicked on in the stomach, flipped over him, and punched the other one into the wall. Yusuke then turned around and grabbed the head of the first one and kneed him in the head, and then did a back kick to the second vampires face, ending the fight. The silence outside the room meant his friends had finished theirs too.

Yusuke avoided looking at the bathroom as he returned to the front room. He was glad to see they were all okay, and noticed four vampires knocked unconscious. A second later, he realized that there was one vampire missing in the room.

"Shouldn't there be five vampires on the ground?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, there should be," Hiei said, looking at Kuwabara angrily.

"Its not my fault he got away!" Kuwabara said. "I tripped on some blood and the guy ran like a coward. If he was a real man I would've had him!"

"I don't accept excuses -"

"Yeah we get, he's a fool," Yusuke said, irritated. He looked over at the bathroom door. "Can we please just get out of here before the cops show up."

"Fine," Hiei said, looking upset that he was interrupted. "But there's no more favors from here on out. You guys are on your own."

"Alright then," Yusuke said, and then held out his hand. "Thanks for your help."

Hiei blinked in surprise, and then reluctantly reached out and shook Yusuke's hand. They all stepped out of the house and went their separate ways. Yusuke thought about how he will probably never see Hiei or Kurama again, and began the long walk home.

"I'm telling you, these four guys were strong!" the escaped vampire said. He was talking to another nest of vampires, which only had three others besides himself. "They took out the whole house by themselves! I just barely managed to get away. I don't know if any of us are strong enough to take them on."

"You really think they're that strong?" the leader asked.

"We had them outnumbered two to one and they took us down in minutes. Yeah I think they're that strong!"

"Interesting..." The leader replied. "I know a guy who might do the trick. He's a muscle for hire, and usually very expensive; but he's always looking for a good challenge, so he might just help us out for free."

The leader reached for the phone and began dialing.

"Hey, Toguro? I have a job thats right up your alley..."


	8. Chapter 8: Target Acquired

"Yusuke, you didn't show up for school again!" Keiko scolded as she walked up and hugged him.

Yusuke had been waiting for her at the usual corner a few blocks away from school. He hadn't been to school in over a week, which was nothing unusual for him. But now that they were officially together, she seemed to have taken it upon herself to make him get an education.

"Sorry Keiko, but Botan has had me patrolling the streets for more vampires," Yusuke said.

"Thats a lie," Keiko said, scowling at him. "I just ran into Botan at school. She asked me to tell you to call her using that communicator thing you have."

"You mean the thing I never carry," Yusuke smirked.

"Of course," Keiko rolled her eyes. "Aren't you going to run off, call her and save the world or something?"

"Don't I have a date with you tonight?" Yusuke leaned closer.

"Yeah," Keiko said innocently.

"Then I'm not calling anybody," Yusuke said, grabbing her hand and walking towards downtown. "You're not gonna feel guilty are you?"

"Hey, I told you. That's as far as my obligation went," Keiko said with a smile.

"I knew I was rubbing off on you," Yusuke laughed. "Besides, knowing Botan it probably isn't all that important or she would track me down herself."

"I hope so," Keiko said, her conscious starting to get to her.

They reached the hustle and bustle of downtown, and pulled each other in different directions as they thought about what to do first. Yusuke pulled her towards the arcade, while Keiko pulled them towards the bookstore. They stared menacingly at each other until both their eyes lit up as they realized the solution: Yusuke would go to the arcade, while Keiko would buy a book and join him there later. Then the traditional feasting of ice cream at the end.

Yusuke went into the arcade and went straight to his favorite fighting game. No one in the neighborhood stood a chance against him in real life, but the virtual world was the great equalizer that let him feel the adrenaline of possibly losing to a 10 year-old.

He played against everybody in the arcade one by one, each time claiming victory. It seemed like even in the virtual world he was getting to be too good. It wasn't until a tall, muscular player wearing sunglasses stepped up to challenge him that he suddenly realized how long he had been playing, and Keiko hadn't shown up yet with her book. He had better drop the game and check on her before she got mad at him for forgetting about her.

"Alright Big Guy, its all yours," Yusuke said as he let go of the controls.

"No, stay. Insist," Big Guy said. He had a deep, menacing voice.

"Nah, you see I gotta meet-"

"Just fight me one round. Your girlfriend will still be waiting for you," Big Guy said.

Yusuke looked over at him, and could swear he could feel the man's eyes piercing through his skin, even behind the sunglasses. Something was definitely wrong.

"Sure, alright," Yusuke said. He turned back to the game. "Name's Yusuke. And you?"

"Toguro," he replied.

"I have a feeling its not nice to meet you."

"You'd be right," Toguro said.

The game started, and Yusuke immediately went on the offensive. He wasn't going to hold back like he did in all the other fights. He just wanted to beat Toguro and go. Problem was, Toguro wasn't as easy as the others. His reflexes were just as fast as Yusuke's, maybe even faster, though he didn't seem to know any of the moves. Yusuke used it to his advantage and did every complicated combo he could think of, and he won.

"Oh too bad," Yusuke sighed in relief. "I guess I'll just be going now."

Yusuke made a quick exit and walked as fast as he could towards the bookstore. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't followed, but then bumped into a tree.

"Oww!" Yusuke said. He looked at what he hit and realized it was Toguro he had walked into.

"We're not done yet," Toguro said. "I told you to fight me one round, not play some video game. Keiko and I will be waiting for you at the park a few blocks from here."

Toguro vanished before Yusuke could react to what he just heard.


	9. Chapter 9: Loss

Yusuke pushed through the growing crowd towards the bookstore where Keiko had been. He kept thinking to himself that Toguro was lying; he would go into the store, yelling her name, and she would slap him for embarrassing her. He would relish the pain, not knowing what he would do without it.

When he reached the bookstore he was horrified to learn it was already closed. According to the sign, it had been closed for almost an hour. That meant Toguro was telling the truth. He was fighting the urge to panic, realizing he had never really felt it before. He spared only a few seconds to calm himself down, and then took off at full speed to the park.

The park was a pitch black void with the exception for a small set of lights in the center. Underneath their pale glow was Toguro, holding Keiko in front of him. Yusuke thought about using the surrounding darkness to sneak behind Toguro. As Yusuke got closer, he thought he noticed something different about Toguro; almost as if he looked more muscular than when he first saw him. He then decided it was better to face his enemy head on, for Keiko's sake.

"I'm glad you could make it," Toguro said as Yusuke stepped into the light. "Decided not to ambush me after all?"

"My grandma, what good eyes your have," Yusuke quipped. "Now that I'm here you can let my girlfriend go now. I'm not gonna leave until I kick your ass."

"I'm glad to hear that," Toguro said releasing Keiko.

Keiko immediately ran over to Yusuke and hugged him. Yusuke held her tight, but never took his eyes off of Toguro.

"Keiko," Yusuke said, releasing her from his embrace. "You need to get out of here. Just go home as fast as you can."

Keiko looked at him with fire in her eyes, but didn't argue. She knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind. She ran off into the darkness and left the two fighters alone in their ring of light.

"Are you ready?" Toguro asked, with no emotion in his voice at all.

"Let's do this," Yusuke said, determined.

Keiko stumbled in the darkness for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She didn't run, and instead stopped at a tree half-way through the park and hid behind it. She wasn't going to leave Yusuke behind. She would wait until the fight was over, and then take him into her arms. No matter how it turned out.

Yusuke quickly closed the gap and threw a small combo of punches at Toguro to test his enemy's strength. Toguro easily evaded and took a giant step back, restoring the bubble. Yusuke charged again, this time closing the distance almost instantly, and threw his fists at his opponent, who had to block instead of evade. As Toguro began to take another step back, Yusuke dropped low and tripped him.

Toguro fell, and Yusuke quickly jumped on top of him, punching his face like a madman. Toguro took the beating for a few seconds, then expanded his muscle so fast that it threw Yusuke off of him. Surprised, Yusuke hesitated, leaving an opening for Toguro to land a punch in the gut. Yusuke screamed in pain and hunched over, and Toguro landed a kick that sent him flying.

Yusuke, landed with a thud at the edge of the light as Toguro laughed.

"What's the matt-" Toguro began.

Yusuke interrupted with a blast from his spirit gun, knocking Toguro down with a grunt. Yusuke slowly got to his feet, trying to avoid the sharp pain in his ribs. Yusuke groaned at the fact Toguro was on his feet before him.

"You know you're really starting to piss me off," Yusuke said.

"You're really starting to bore me," Toguro said. "I might have to kill you a lot sooner than I thought."

"We'll see about that!" Yusuke said, charging once more.

Toguro blocked his punches and quickly threw a kick in return. Yusuke jumped to avoid it and landed a kick on Toguro's face. Toguro took a small step back, grabbed Yusuke's leg, and pulled him down to the ground. There was another thud as Yusuke hit the ground. Toguro bent down and picked him up by the throat.

"Time to end this," Toguro said, tightening his grip. Toguro held Yusuke high and watched his oxygen deprived limbs struggle weakly.

Suddenly, Toguro's body burst into flames, causing him to drop his prey as he screamed in pain. Yusuke gasped for breath and rolled away from the inferno. He sat up to see Toguro rolling on the ground to put out the flames. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Yusuke got to his feet, focused all of his spirit energy, and then shot his Spirit Gun at his weakened opponent.

The sound of the impact was sickening as it tore through flesh and bone. Yusuke looked over at his fallen enemy, and nearly puked at the sight of it. He turned away, feeling a sudden chill despite the still smoking remains at his feet. He stepped into the darkness, following the mysterious trail of cold.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness and then he screamed in terror. Keiko was lying on the grass with her arms stretched out as if trying to reach for him. Yusuke knelt down and held her in his arms, her body limp. Yusuke shook his head in distress as he pieced together what happened. She had manifested her energy in the form of fire. She must had used all of her energy to do it, including her life energy. Her lifeless eyes were proof of that.


	10. Chapter 10: Bargaining

Yusuke stood on the outside of the crowd as they paid their respects to Keiko. He constantly scanned the surroundings, waiting for one mourner in particular to show up. The arduous task also gave him something to do besides looking at Keiko in a coffin; It contrasted with how full of life she truly was. He then spotted the bubble-gum blue hair, and quickly made his way to Botan.

For the last week Yusuke had been trying to get a hold of Botan, to tell her that it was all a mistake. The silence he got in return had frustrated him, and contemplated taking his own life so Botan would be forced to come see him. Then he realized that Botan would pay her respects at the funeral, no matter what was going on. That was the only reason why he was attending the funeral of someone who wasn't really dead.

"Where have you been?" Yusuke demanded as soon as he reached her.

"I'm sorry Yusuke," Botan said with sad eyes.

"Its okay," Yusuke reassured. "Now that you're here we can finally get started. So do I have to kiss Keiko to help give some of my life energy or something?"

"What do you mean?" Botan asked.

"Aren't we going to bring her back?" Yusuke asked in return. 

"No, Yusuke," Botan said, guilt in her voice. "Keiko is gone. I'm sorry."

"But she died saving me from Toguro. I never would have defeated him if she hadn't used her life energy to keep him from choking the life out of me."

"I know Yusuke, but we can't just bring anybody back to life. Otherwise death would have no meaning and the world would've become overpopulated a long time ago."

"This isn't just anybody, Botan. Its Keiko."

"Its not up to me. Koenma-"

"Koenma! That little brat! Take me to him so I can make him change his mind."

"I don't know, Yusuke."

Botan looked away in discomfort, not knowing what to say. Her eyes caught the coffin, and she slowly walked up to it. Yusuke remained where he was, not wanting to dishonor Keiko by making a scene. He waited patiently as Botan paid her respects, rethinking whether or not he would need to pay his own after all. After a somber few minutes, Botan walked back over to Yusuke.

"Alright," Botan said. "I'll take you to Koenma."

"Lets go see him," Yusuke said.

"You can't see him,"Ogre said bluntly.

"What do you mean we can't see him!" Botan exclaimed.

"You of all people know how busy he's been these days," Ogre replied.

"But it will only take a minute..." Botan said.

"Look pal," Yusuke said, pushing Ogre aside. "I came here to see Koenma. Getting his permission is a bonus."

Yusuke kicked in the door and found the toddler shuffling papers around in a frenzy.

"What do you want?" Koenma asked, flustered.

"Such a big attitude from such a little-"

"I'm busy Yusuke, so get to the point," Koenma interrupted, never stopping his shuffling.

Surprised at how direct Koenma was, Yusuke decided to go straight to the point.

"I want to know about what you plan to do about Keiko."

"Its already done. I can't do anything else."

"That's a lie and you know it," Yusuke said. "You brought me back for saving that kid, and I'm just a low-life. Keiko deserves more than that."

"And why do you think I brought you back," Koenma said, and stopped what he was doing. "I brought you back because your world is filling up with low-life demons and I needed a replacement to take care of them because I have bigger things to worry about."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to get in the way of your paperwork," Yusuke scoffed.

"No, you idiot. The world is coming to an end! That's whats been keeping me busy."

"Wait, what?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh dear," Botan said from the doorway.

"You knew about this?" Yusuke asked, looking over at her.

"I've been busy helping him organize our forces," Botan admitted. "That's why I wasn't able to talk to you sooner."

"Your forces? What you guys got an army or something?" Yusuke asked.

"Or something is right," Koenma answered. "I got my most powerful and experienced Spirit Detectives taking on the threat. You had some potential and I was desperate to find someone who could fight against some of the lesser threats."

"The Saint Beasts releasing the Macai insects was a lesser threat?"

"Thats how dire the situation is. Now unless you have something to contribute to this cause, I need you to get out and let me do my job for once," Koenma snapped.

In a flash of light Yusuke and Botan were back in the physical realm, with nothing to show for their efforts.

"Well that was a waste of time," Yusuke said angrily.

"Not necessarily," Botan said. "Look where we are."

Yusuke looked over and saw they were standing in front of Genkai's gate.

"Why are we here?" Yusuke asked.

"I think Koenma wants you to finish your training with Genkai."

"And why would I go back to training with that crazy old hag?"

"Because, if you can get strong enough to actually help him with his problem, he just might be able to help you with yours."

"Wait, you really think so?" Yusuke said, excited.

"Why else would he bring us here instead of back to your house?" Botan shrugged.

Yusuke looked over at the giant wooden door, blocking his path of redemption, and smiled.

"Lets do this," he said, and kicked in the door.


	11. Chapter 11: The Old Hag

An old woman strolled through her serene courtyard garden, relishing the feel of the warm sunlight on her skin. It was another beautiful day, one of those days that just made her feel grateful for being alive. It wasn't like death was knocking on her door, but she had long ago learned to appreciate the gift of living in peace.

_Crash!_

The large wooden gate across from her burst open, splinters shooting out from the sudden impact. She groaned aloud, all the thoughts of peace and tranquility erased from her mind. She wanted violent revenge.

"You locked your gate up pretty good. It almost makes me think you don't want me around," Yusuke said from the threshold.

"Maybe that's because I don't, you dumb-ass," Genkai said.

"Well too bad grandma, cuz I need your help," Yusuke said.

"Hello," Genkai said to Botan, completely ignoring him. "You still getting dragged around everywhere by this idiot?"

"Actually no," Botan replied. "Koenma has me pretty busy these days."

"Hel-looo! I'm right here next to you, stop talking as if I'm not," Yusuke yelled.

"So what brings you here?" Genkai asked Botan.

"Actually for that, you had better talk to Yusuke," Botan said, looking awkwardly over at him.

Yusuke dropped his smile as he remembered why he was there. Having noticed the strange look, Genaki dropped the playful act.

"What's going on?" she asked him.

"I need you to train me again. I need to become stronger than what I am now," he replied.

"I told you that months ago and you didn't listen. Why the sudden change?"

"I've realized that there is more at stake than my own life. Others might pay the price for my weakness."

"That's very mature of you. But that isn't the whole story is it?"

"Honestly," Yusuke hesitated. "I thought I was as strong as I needed to be. Then this Toguro guy comes along and shows me just how weak I really am. He was about to finish me off, but then Keiko..."

"She was the price you paid to learn that lesson, wasn't she."

"Yes. She lost her life because I was too weak. So please Genkai, let me train with you again. I promise I won't give up so easily from now on."

Yusuke looked up and saw that her eyes had watered. She must have felt so much pity for him. No matter, he meant what he said. He would do whatever it takes to get stronger, and make sure he never loses anyone again.

"Fine, I will train you again," Genkai said after what felt like forever. "Now get inside dumb-ass."

"Sure thing, Old Hag."Yusuke said, and walked over towards the house.

"Thank you, Genkai," Botan said and ran to catch up to him.

Yusuke looked over at Botan and gave a smile.

"Well that was easier than I thought," he said.

"Yeah…It was," Botan said, looking over her shoulder at Genkai.

"What's the matter?"

"Well, don't you think that was a little _too_ easy?"

"You mean how she didn't make me climb a mountain just to prove my dedication?"

"Exactly. I mean she made you risk your life winning that tournament before she chose you as her apprentice. Why ask for nothing now?"

"I thought about that too," Yusuke said. "I noticed her eyes got wider when I mentioned Toguro's name. You think maybe she's heard of him and was impressed with my skills?"

"I don't think so, otherwise she would just say you shouldn't waste her time if you already that strong."

"Well I'm all out of ideas then," Yusuke shrugged. "Its probably nothing."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right," Botan said, lying through her teeth. Maybe Koenma would know something, she thought.


	12. Chapter 12: The Conspiracy Revealed

Yusuke had been training the hardest he ever had over the last 3 months, and it paid off. Genkai even said the old Yusuke would have taken years to reach the level he was at now. That was why now he was in the middle of the forest, sitting high up in a tree without a care in the world. He deserved a break before volunteering for more torture.

"Get down from there, dumb-ass. I didn't spend all that time training you so you could break your neck," Genkai yelled from the ground.

"What're you talking about. You've put me in way more danger during training," Yusuke said, unmoved.

"Yeah but that's because it was fun. You need to get down so I can test your skills one last time."

"What do you mean one last time. Don't I need more training?" Yusuke asked. This time he jumped down.

"Maybe. We're about to find out," Genkai replied, taking a few steps away from him.

Yusuke faced her in a fighting stance, looking intently for any sign of movement. She merely stared stoically into his eyes, almost like a statue. He kept his stance, knowing any sign of relenting and she would instantly attack. They kept it up for several minutes until Genkai let out a sly smile.

Yusuke ducked underneath a sword strike that would have taken his head clean off. He retaliated with a kick at the attacker's direction, hitting nothing but air. He saw in the corner of his eye that Genkai was still standing in her original spot and ignored her. As soon as he saw her smile he knew he was being tricked into focusing on her. His real attacker was someone else hiding in the forest.

There was a flash of light as the sword caught a small streak of sunlight and Yusuke kicked the handle, knocking it out of his opponent. He spun around and threw another kick, and his opponent grabbed on to his leg. Yusuke went into a drop kick to break the grip, and then rolled away to safety. When he faced upward again his opponent had the sword again, only this time Yusuke parried it with his arm, covered in spirit energy, and had his Spirit Gun at the read, pointing at his opponent's face.

"Looks like you've finally learned some skills," Hiei smirked.

"Looks like I got more skill than you," Yusuke replied, using his eyes to point at his Spirit Gun.

"Please," Hiei scoffed. "The only reason you're still alive is because this is only a test. If this were real you would never have seen the first strike."

"Thats what I don't get. Why are _you_ the one testing me? I would have figured you would have embraced freedom and forget about me."

"I heard what happened to your girlfriend; how she sacrificed herself to save you from Toguro. I thought about someone...what I mean is, I can relate. I volunteered to join your team."

"What're you talking about. What team?" Yusuke asked, confused.

"You'll find out more once I take you to Koenma," Hiei said.

"What about my training?" Yusuke asked, looking over at Genkai.

"There's nothing more that I can teach you right now. You need to go out and learn from experience. You can come back to me when you're ready."

"And that'll be..."

"Quit acting like a dumb-ass. You'll know when you'll know. Now get the hell off my property," Genkai said.

"Shut up, grandma. I'll go when I damn well please," Yusuke said with a smile.

"No, you'll go when_ I _damn please," Hiei said. "And we're leaving _now_."

"The world is in serious danger Yusuke," Koenma said as soon as Yusuke entered the room.

"Well don't sugar coat it for me," Yusuke said as he sat down.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a little busy these days," Koenma said.

'

"I would say quit being a baby but-"

"There's a man," Koenma interrupted. He held up a photo of a strong young man with piercing eyes. "His name is Sensui. He was Japan's spirit detective before you. I sent him on an assignment to stop some humans from releasing an S Class from Demon World , only he never came back. I thought he had been killed, so I sealed up the hole the humans made, but..."

"Lemme guess. He was still alive and you trapped him in there," Yusuke said, his tone serious.

Koenma nodded in confirmation.

"Not only did he somehow survive the last 8 years in the Demon World, he has also managed to rally an army."

"An army against who?"

"Against me and all of Spirit World. The Human World has undoubtedly been caught in the cross fire with the increased Demon activity, mostly as a result of this man."

Koenma held up a photo of a man in his forties, or at least he looked that way. His all white hair made him look older than he probably was.

"Who's the geezer?" Yusuke asked.

"This is your new case. He goes by the name Mors, which is Latin for death. He is a necromancer, aligning himself with whoever will pay him the most. He has been hired by Sensui and I want to know what for."

"Wait," Yusuke said. "You mean I trained my ass of just to get sent after some old man? Screw that, I wanna go after Sensui. Where is he at?"

"Sensui is calling the shots from Demon World," Koenma said, annoyed. "Unless you think you can take on a whole world full of demons, you're just going to have to settle for someone who can raise a small army of dead people."

"Oh is that what a necromancer does?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, now get going!"


	13. Chapter 13: All is Fair

"So, how exactly does that eye work?" Kuwabara asked Hiei.

Hiei was quietly meditating, using his Eye to try and find out where Mors was hiding out. Yusuke, Kurama, and with the exception of Kuwabara, were patiently watching TV, waiting for an answer.

"Quiet," was all Hie responded.

"I've been quiet for the last two hours, and that obviously isn't working," Kuwabara whined.

"Think of it like a kind of surveillance satellite," Kurama answered. "It can look down on anywhere in the world, but so long as someone stays covered you can't really see them. It appears that Mors is skilled enough to keep himself cloaked."

"Then how are we supposed to find this guy?" Kuwabara asked.

"Looks like we already did," Yusuke said, raising the volume on the muted TV.

Hiei opened his eyes and watched along with them. There was a newscaster giving a special report from the city's main square.

"...rioters do not appear to have any demands," the reporter said. "The police have shot tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd, however it doesn't appear to have any effect on them even though they are not wearing any gas masks. Police are advising everyone to stay indoors until further notice."

"That sounds like zombies to me," Yusuke said.

"Agreed," Kurama said.

"How could you not see _that_?" Kuwabara said. "Dude has a freaking army."

"Shut up," Hiei said, frowning. He was concerned because he knew Kuwabara was right.

"Doesn't matter," Yusuke said. "We know where he is, so lets go stop him before it gets any worse."

By the time Yusuke and the others arrived at the square, the police were almost completely overrun. There were scattered groups of riot police forming a circle with their tower shields. The patrol officers were firing their pistols into the horde of undead, aiming for the head in hope that the movies had it right. It made no difference, however. Head shot or not, the undead kept their slow, steady march.

"They're going to get slaughtered!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"They are not equipped to take on this type of enemy," Kurama said. "Their movements are being controlled by someone's spirit energy, not through biology. The only way to defeat them is by dismembering them."

"I have just the trick," Kuwabara said, summoning his Spirit Sword.

"Let's split up," Yusuke said. "Kuwabara, you're with me."

Yusuke and Kuwabara charged into the right side of the horde. A moment later there were flashes of blue and yellow spirit energy lighting up the crowded plaza.

"I have to admit, I like his style of leadership," Hiei said.

Hiei dashed, and in the blink of an eye he had drawn his sword and dismembered the legs of a small circle of zombies. Kurama charged after him, dodging the clumsy attacks of the zombies and slicing them with his Rose Whip.

After what felt like an eternity of fighting, Yusuke and Kuwabara had made it to the first group of the police officers.

"Who are you guys, and what the hell is going on?" the ranking officer said, clubbing zombies with the butt of his shotgun.

"Do you really wanna know or do you want to get the hell out of here first?" Yusuke shot back.

"Okay, fine. What's your plan?" the officer quickly replied. He was eager to get his men out.

"The plan is..." Yusuke said, pausing. He had been so focused on just reaching the police officers that he hadn't thought about how to actually move them out of harms way.

"Hey, Yusuke, " Kuwabara said, stepping into the safety behind the riot shields.

Yusuke follow him, and they both stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

"What Kurama said about these guys being controlled by Spirit Energy is true," Kuwabara continued. "I can see strings of energy from the zombies, and they're all coming from over there."

Kuwabara pointed to the third floor balcony of a hotel room; and there stood a man, watching the whole scene as calmly as could be.

"Looks like that's our bad guy," Yusuke said. "You stay here while I go after Mors. Taking him down is the best chance we got."

"Well then hurry up!" Kuwabara replied. He then charged once more into the crowd, making an opening for Yusuke.

Yusuke went into the opening, and then took a stance that Kuwabara had never seen before. After taking a moment to concentrate all of his energy, Yusuke shot out a great wave of Spirit Energy, opening a line leading straight to Mors.

Wasting no time, Yusuke ran as fast as he could to the hotel, and jumped from balcony to balcony until he reached the one the necromancer was on. Mors turned around to face his new opponent, his eyebrows raised.

"That was very impressive," he said, calmly.

Yusuke was surprised at how young the necromancer looked; he didn't seem older than thirty.

"You're the necromancer?" Yusuke asked.

"Guilty as charged," Mors replied, with a smile. "I know I don't look like an old, evil villain, but once you've reached my age you learn to hide it better."

"That's okay, I'll ruin that pretty face of yours in no time," Yusuke said, and fired his Spirit Gun.

There was a loud _crack_ as his shot connected. Yusuke looked over and saw the necromancer had made a shield of bones to block his attack.

"Now that's just gross," Yusuke said, shaking his head in disapproval.

"That's exactly what she said just now, too," Mors said.

"Who, your girlfriend?" Yusuke joked.

"Not mine. Yours. The pretty girl with short brown hair. What's your name dear?" Mors asked, looking past Yusuke.

"You can see me?" a familiar voice said behind Yusuke.

He turned around, and immediately fell to his knees. Standing right in front him, was none other than Keiko herself.


	14. Chapter 14: Love or War?

"What the hell is this?" Yusuke asked, angrily. He turned and faced Mors, unable to look behind him. He was afraid Keiko would (or was it wouldn't?) still be there if he did.

"This is what we call a compromise," Mors said matter-of-factly. "You get your dead loved one back and you let me walk away."

"You've never even seen me before," Yusuke grilled. "How did you even know who to bring back?"

"Honestly I have no idea who either of you are," Mors confessed. "From what I've seen of your skills just now I know you pose a threat, so I've decided to cut my losses."

"And me?" Keiko chirped. Yusuke fought the urge to look at her.

"As for you," Mors replied. "I saw your spirit following him like a lost puppy. So, I just focused most of my spirit energy into giving you corporeal form. Which, I might add, made me lose the connection to all of my friends down in the streets. You win this round, young man."

Yusuke walked over to the balcony and saw the horde of zombies collapsed on the ground, unmoving. Hiei and Kurama looked up, and nodded in approval. Kuwabara smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Well if it took most of your energy to do...whatever it was you did," Yusuke said, first looking at Keiko, then at Mors. "Then what's stopping me from taking you down right now?"

"She is of course," Mors nodded in her direction. "I gave her my energy. Which means that if you try to attack me now, or in the future, I can take it all back and you will lose her forever. So...what's it going to be?"

Yusuke grimaced as he stared at Mors. He turned towards Keiko, his face softened as he took her in. It felt like a lifetime ago since he had stared into those beautiful brown eyes. Keiko smiled and nodded her head, giving him silent approval for whatever it was he decided. Yusuke nodded back, a silent tear running down his cheek. He then quickly turned back around and charged full speed at Mors.

There was a flash of light behind him, and a sudden rush of air. Keiko was taken from him once again, and he would have no remorse in killing the man responsible.

Yusuke punched Mors, sending him flying across the expansive hotel room. Yusuke fired his spirit gun at him before he could get up. He was leaving nothing to chance. He then ran up to go and finish him off his bare hands, but was surprised to see he was already on his feet. Other than the bruise on his face it was as if nothing had happened.

"That hurt," Mors said, rubbing his cheek. "I'm definitely going to have to try and end this quickly."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to do just that!" Yusuke retorted.

He ran up to Mors and threw another punch at his face. Mors barely managed to dodge it and swung a much slower punch at Yusuke. Yusuke easily dodged it and did a jump kick. Mors struggled to dodge it, but the kick still managed to hit him in the shoulder and flew back from the impact.

Yusuke ran up and kicked Mors in the stomach as he slowly tried to get up. Mors tumbled further away, coughing up blood. Yusuke held his position while he concentrated his energy to his spirit gun.

_This is for you, Keiko_, Yusuke thought. He fired a huge blast of energy and watched it hit his target. He wiped sweat off his brow as he caught his breath. He turned and started to run back to his friends.

"You don't honestly think you've won, do you?" Mors said. "You know you really did have me worried for a second. I'm not much good against physical attacks."

Yusuke's eyes went wide as he turned back around. Mors wiped the blood off his mouth as he stood up.

"How the hell did you survive that? You're not that strong," Yusuke asked.

"Physically, no I'm not," Mors replied. "I've lived a long time, and in that time I've learned a lot about spirit energy, and more importantly, life energy. I know how to change one into the other. I not only know how to to do that to myself, hence the immortality, but to others as well."

"What do you mean do it to others?" Yusuke asked, fists clenched both out of worry and fury.

"I can sense the flow of a person's life energy from their spirit energy. Since you just happened to give me such an abundant sample of yours, I can now do this to you."

Mors snapped his fingers, and Yusuke screamed out as he felt pain envelop his body, and fell to his knees.

"What the hell was that?" Yusuke gasped.

"Oh that was just me literally sucking the life out of you," Mors said nonchalantly. "Hurts doesn't it? Don't worry though, we're half way there. Just one more snap of my fingers and it'll all be over."

And then Mors simply helped up his hand, and snapped.


	15. Chapter 15: Crossroads Deal

Keiko's eyes went wide as her spirit watched Yusuke collapse on the ground. Just like that, with the snap of some bastard's fingers, Yusuke was dead.

_No_, she thought. _He can't die this easily! Not after everything he went through with Genkai. Not after he unselfishly chose to do the right thing, no matter the cost. That's not what's supposed to happen! It can't happen!_

All of a sudden she felt a wave of energy begin to envelop her. She wasn't sure what was happening, but she felt like she was becoming stronger and continued to let her rage fuel that energy. She thought about how she would do anything to protect Yusuke, or in this case, anything to avenge him.

Next thing she knew, she was on the ground on all fours, screaming at the top of her lungs; in the flesh.

"How the hell did you do that?" Mors asked, unsure whether he was asking her or himself.

Keiko looked up at him with all the hatred in her new body. There was a flash of energy, and flames erupted all around them.

"You killed him, you son of a bitch!" Keiko yelled as she started walking towards Mors. She was still unaware of her state, all of her concentration focused on the killer.

Mors held up his hand and snapped his fingers. Keiko stopped in her tracks screamed as she felt a wave of energy leave her body. She took a breath and remembered the feeling of all that energy going into her body. She felt the wave return, and resumed her march towards her adversary.

Mors took a step back in surprise, and stepped into a wall of flame that Keiko had erected all around them once again. He jumped forward, unable to concentrate. There was another flash of energy and Mors torso caught on fire. This time he was the one to scream in pain as he rolled on the ground to put out the flames. Keiko kept walking closer.

A second after Mors finished rolling, Keiko winced in pain as she felt another wave of energy try to leave her body. This time she managed to stop most of it from escaping, but could not get the rest of it back. Mors stood up, his burns already healed.

That's when Keiko realized that their energies were linked together. She had stolen his energy and given herself corporeal form, and he was trying to take it back. She concentrated and took more, not caring if she died along with him due to their strange link. As long as she got ven-

"...Yusuke back?" Mors asked.

"What?" Keiko asked, her concentration beginning to weaken. _Not__yet_, she thought.

"I _said_, did you want Yusuke back?" Mors repeated.

"You wont bring him back," Keiko answered. "I'm not an idiot, you would never bring back someone who was just trying to kill you."

But the flames she made had already began to dull.

"If I brought Yusuke back and he tried to attack me, I could just as easily take his life away," Mors said. "As you have noticed, we're linked. You managed to use that to your advantage but I doubt your boyfriend would be so lucky. Not only that, but he'd be so happy to see you he wouldn't care about coming after me. You two could live out your lives together, before some stupid kid in diapers handed him a mission to save the world."

Keiko eyed him suspiciously. Was it a trick? Mors did bring her back as an exchange to leave him alone, and he had no reason to make that deal; especially since he ended up winning the fight anyways. But the keyword was _exchange_. That meant he probably wanted something from her before he brought Yusuke back.

"What is it you want?" Keiko asked.

"You managed to take a large amount of my spirit energy," Mors said as dryly as if he were explaining the terms of a lease. "I have some jobs I need to do and no energy to do it. That includes having the energy to bring back your boyfriend. If you work for me for the next two months, I will have enough to do both."

"What kind of work?"

"I'm obviously not in the stuffed animal business. You _will_ end up killing people."

Keiko shook her head, but not as adamantly as she thought she would. _What's__a__few__lives__compared__to__the__countless__lives__Yusuke__has__saved__over__the__years__?_ Keiko thought. _If__anybody__deserves__to__come__back__, __its__him__. __And__if__I__have__to__be__the__one__to__make__it__happen__..._

"You have yourself a deal," Keiko said, softly.

Kuwabara ran up the hotel steps as fast as he could. It had taken Yusuke way too long to come back down after stopping that necromancer. At first Kuwabara thought Yusuke was just feeling sad about having to kill someone, but now he wasn't so sure. The zombies had stayed down, so the bad guy was still dead. But there was so much smoke coming out of the room...

He made it to the room, and saw the door was already open. He went inside and saw everything was charred, like the whole room was covered in fire. But only in that room, nowhere else. That wasn't like any fire he ever heard of. He called Hie and Kurama and the three of them searched the entire hotel. There was no sign of Yusuke or the necromancer.


	16. Chapter 16: A Means to an End

Keiko ran through rows of cars in the mall's parking lot. Though she couldn't see him just yet, she could feel his presence. And if _he_was here, the others were not too far behind. If she used her full powers out here, it would cause too much of a disturbance too early. She would have to be very careful not to-

There was a flash and Keiko ducked, the blade missing her head by an inch. She created a tiny circle of fire around her to keep him from striking again. She stood to look around and saw a wisp of smoke about three cars back. She had singed him a little, but his speed had already put out the flame.

"Keiko!" Kuwabara yelled from the far end of the parking lot; Kurama was next to him. She looked back where the smoke was and saw Hiei staring at her stoically. She created a bright flash of flame in front of him and ducked out of sight between the cars as she ran towards her target. Her job was going to be a lot harder once the other two caught up with them.

Keiko paused at the last row just before the entrance. She would be exposed for a few seconds before she made it inside, which would be just long enough for Hiei to catch up to her. She ran and cast a huge flame wall behind her, keeping them from seeing exactly where she was. There was a black flicker above her and she saw Hiei on the rooftop, sword drawn.

She shot a flame at him, knowing he would most likely dodge it. She then shot several flames in various directions hoping to catch him off guard. Casting her flames was like shooting a gun. She could spray and pray if she needed too, or if she had line of sight she could be deadly accurate. Hiei was fast, but her eyes were faster.

Hiei used his sword to create a blade of wind that sliced through the maddening flames allowing him to continue his charge. Keiko dodged in surprise and shot another flame at him, but he had already moved. Keiko's heart was pounding. He must have been holding back before, but now he had had enough.

_Why__now__?_ Keiko thought. _This__is__the__last__time__. __Why__couldn__'__t__you__have__waited__just__one__more__day__?_

Keiko knew she would have to play it smart from then on. She stood still for a second, hoping to draw him in. Hiei took the bait and lunged at half speed. She twisted away and left flames in her wake. Hiei caught on fire and he quickly ran off at full speed to put himself out. But now Kuwabara and Kurama had caught up with weapons drawn.

"Just stop, Keiko!" Kuwabara pleaded.

"I can't," Keiko replied. "By tomorrow you'll know why."

That was all they said to each other. Both knew that there was no stopping either of them.

She turned to go inside when she heard Kuwabara charge. She covered her arms in flames, deflected his spirit sword, and then countered with a fiery punch in the shoulder. His shirt caught fire and he began to pat himself down.

Kurama flung his rose whip at her. She blocked, but it wrapped around her arm, keeping her from running. She closed her eyes and tuned into Kurama's spiritual energy. She then transformed his whip into fire, along with some of the energy surrounding his body. Kurama dropped and rolled as he screamed in pain. Keiko hoped she did not injure any of them too badly. Yusuke would need them in the days to come.

Keiko ran inside the mall, and a few moments later there was a large fiery explosion. Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama grimly listened as the screams they heard quickly became silenced, leaving only the crackle of the fire.


	17. Chapter 17: Reunited

Keiko slowly walked down the crowded square and sat down at a bench to take a minute and thoroughly scan the crowd. She wanted to make sure Kuwabara, Hiei, or Kurama weren't following her.

The trio had been hot on her heels for the last two months, half because she wanted them to and half because she needed them to. She wanted her friends to know she was alright, but she also needed to keep them distracted. The necromancer's job was to create enough chaos to spread Koenma's forces thin. For what purpose she didn't know, but for who was quite clear.

Yusuke.

Everything she had done for the last two months was for Yusuke. She had traveled all over the country, burning down building after building and crying herself to sleep knowing she had brought an end to so many lives. All so she can bring back the man she loved, and he could put a stop to whatever they were _really_ planning.

Keiko had not seen or sensed anybody following her. She still remained cautious as she stood and slowly walked towards the abandoned hotel on the other side of the square. No mistakes she thought. _Not when_ _everything was so close to being perfect again._

The hotel was the very same hotel where Yusuke had been killed. She could still see the scorch marks on the facade of the building. Once inside she opened the door to a room on the third floor, and saw Yusuke lying in bed. He was in a similar coma to the one Koenma kept him the first time he died. Only this time it took more than just a kiss to keep him alive.

"I see you've already completed your task," Mors said, stepping into the room.

"And every other one you've asked me to do," Keiko replied.

"Indeed," Mors said, and looked at his watch. "Well look at the time, two months have gone by already. I believe its time for your reward."

Keiko took a step back as Mors stepped up to the bed, and held his hands over Yusuke's body.

Yusuke struggled to open his eyes, as if he was being woken up in the middle of a deep sleep. The dim light of his room still managed to hurt, but began to feel relieved when he saw Keiko standing over him and clutching his hand. He smiled at her as she bent down to kiss him.

_Wait a minute. The last thing I remember was Mors snapping his fingers and... _Yusuke thought as his eyes went wide.

He quickly sat up as he pushed Keiko away.

"What happened?" Yusuke asked, looking around. "Where's Mors? Did her hurt you?"

"Calm down, Yusuke," Keiko said in a soothing voice. "Everything is fine now that you're finally awake."

"How long have I been out?" Yusuke said. He knew he was in the same hotel, but the room seemed off. Most of the furniture was missing, and whatever was still in there was covered in a thin layer of dust.

"Two months," Keiko answered, solemnly.

"What? That can't be right. If I was knocked out for two months I'd be waking up in a hospital. There's something you're not telling -"

"You were dead, Yusuke," Keiko said, holding back tears. "Mors killed you by taking all of your life energy. He tried killing me too, but since he was the one who brought me back our energies are linked and I somehow managed to take it back."

"Is that how you brought me back?"

"Well, no. I don't know how to do that without our energies being linked. But Mors did and he said-"

"Said what!" Yusuke yelled as he began to think of all the possible things the necromancer could have made her do. "What did he have you do?"

"He said if I helped him with his jobs, he would bring you back to me."

"And what exactly were those jobs? Its not like he's in the stuffed animal business."

Keiko looked at Yusuke strangely, since that was exactly Mors had said when she made the deal.

"I did what I had to do," Keiko said as Yusuke walked around in frustration. "I figured since you saved so many lives, taking a few to bring you back was only fair."

"Fair?" Yusuke said, his blood boiling. "What's fair is losing a fight to a stronger enemy. What's fair is those people living out their lives like they were supposed to!"

"The world needs you, Yusuke! I need you!" Keiko said, her eyes firmly locked in his.

"No," Yusuke said, staring back at her. "The world doesn't even care if I'm back or not. _You_ just wanted me back for your own selfish reasons."

"Even if that's true, what do you want me to do about it now?"

"I want you to turn yourself in."

"What!"

"Turn yourself in and accept the consequences of what you've done."

"But I did it for us, so we can be together again. Lets just be happy like we always should have been."

Tears started to stream down Yusuke's face.

"Either turn yourself in, or-"

"Or what? You'll take me in?" Keiko said, feeling her spirit energy rise. "I'm not the helpless girl I used to be."

"That helpless girl knew the difference between right and wrong," Yusuke said, his own energy rising. "And I loved her for it."

Keiko screamed as she sent a wave of flames over at Yusuke.


	18. Chapter 18: Breaking Up

Yusuke blinked in surprise of the menacing wave of fire coming towards him. He built a wall of spirit energy in front of him, making the flames curve all around him. He sweat both from the heat and the amount of concentration it took to keep the wall up. It seems that while Mors had brought him back, it was not with a full tank. He had about half the amount of spirit energy he had before.

Yuske leaped forward towards where Keiko last stood, ready to grab her and make her stop. But she had already moved, having curved the flames to mislead him. She shot a large fireball at his right side while Yusuke was still in the air. Surprised, Yusuke barely had enough time to block it using spirit energy and flew backwards.

He landed on his back with a thud, and quickly rolled away to avoid another fireball.

"Stop it, Keiko! Before someone gets hurt!" Yusuke yelled, getting on his feet.

"Its a little too late for that, now isn't it," Keiko replied.

"I would say it's never too late to do the right thing, but I figured it was too cliché."

Keiko smiled at the comment, making Yusuke's heart skip a beat. Damn how he had missed that smile.

"Look, Yusuke. We don't have to fight. The world really does need you, more than you'd ever admit."

"I'm just one person," Yusuke said.

"You're a lot more than that to me," Keiko said.

"Yeah to you I'm, what, worth 50 people? 100? Exactly how many lives did it cost to bring me back?"

"Will you quit being so stubborn!" Keiko yelled. "Yes, I've done some horrible things these last two months. But I know, down to my very soul, that bringing you back was the right thing to do, no matter the cost."

"Yet you're throwing fire at me like you're roasting a Christmas turkey. How can I save the world if I'm dead?"

"We both know this isn't a serious fight. We're both just buying time until one of us convinces the other they're right."

"And what if neither of us back down, because thats looking to be the road we're taking."

"Then things are about to get a lot more serious," Keiko sighed.

"I guess so," Yusuke replied.

Yusuke charged forward and, in a flash, was within striking distance. Surprised at the speed, Keiko jumped back and made a wall of fire in between them. Yusuke stepped around and landed a kick.

Keiko screamed out in pain, and Yusuke quickly withdrew. Taking advantage, Keiko closed the gap with a fireball. Yusuke jumped to the side, dodging the fireball. He struggled to think of a way of stopping Keiko without seriously hurting her. Little did he know that Keiko was thinking the same thing about him, only she had already found the answer.

A sphere of blue fire formed just big enough to cover Yusuke, but it did not try to engulf him. Before he knew it, his vision became blurry and he realized the hotter flames were sucking up more oxygen than the ones before. He tried to form a break in the sphere with his spirit energy, but the lack of oxygen made it hard for him to concentrate. A moment later Yusuke blacked out, falling to his knees.

The flames quickly disappeared, with Keiko standing just outside of the trap.

"I promise I'll make this up to you," Keiko said, and walked away.


	19. Chapter 19: Moving On

"You're telling me he's still asleep? Its 4 in the afternoon!" Kuwabara yelled at Genkai.

"I didn't say he was asleep, you idiot," Genkai retorted. "I said he was still in bed. He hasn't left the damn thing ever since he got here 3 days ago."

"And that's another thing!" Kuwabara continued. "Why didn't you tell us Yusuke was back the first day? We've been looking for him for months!"

"You really are an idiot," Hiei interrupted. "She obviously had to make sure it was really him before telling us."

"What do you mean?" Kuwabara asked.

"Imagine," Kurama explained. "that it was some demon or spirit taking Yusuke's form and it attacked us when we arrived. Would you be able to fight someone who looked like your best friend? Would you be able to kill him?"

Kuwabara fell silent for a moment at the thought of losing his friend all over again.

"Well where's his room? I wanna go see him," Kuwabara said.

"That's not a good idea," Genkai answered. "He is still recovering from what happened."

"I thought you said he wasn't injured?" Kuwabara asked.

"That doesn't mean he's not hurt," Kurama said.

"Oh," Kuwabara said. "Wait, what does that mean?"

Genkai rolled her eyes and walked away. What Kurama said was right. Yusuke was fine physically, but something had happened to him during the last few months. Whatever it was, it was bad. She knocked on Yusuke's door and let herself in.

Yusuke was sitting up in bed, staring out the window at her vast estate. He hadn't spoken a word, and she had long ago missed his snide remarks. She sat next to the bed and stared at him staring out the window.

After a few minutes she decided to break through this vow of silence. There was work to be done.

"Kuwabara, Hie, and Kurama are outside waiting for you. They've been looking for you for months," Genkai said.

Silence.

"Come on, Yusuke. Your friends need you," she continued to prod.

Silence.

"Stop acting like such a wimp," she said, growing angry. "I know you're stronger than this."

"I'm not strong," Yusuke finally replied.

"Sure you are. I wouldn't have chosen to train you otherwise, dumbass."

"No, I'm not. If I had been strong enough to beat Toguro, Keiko wouldn't have died saving me. Mors wouldn't have brought her back to manipulate me. If I had been strong enough to defeat Mors, she wouldn't have killed all those people to bring me back."

Genkai lowered her head at the sound of Toguro's name.

"I have to confess something," Genkai said. "Toguro was once my friend a long time ago. We won the Dark Tournament together, and we were each granted one wish. Toguro used his to become a demon with immeasurable strength. I knew he had lost all his humanity, but I couldn't bring myself to defeat him. I had all the power in the world to stop him, but I didn't. If anyone is to blame for your suffering, its me."

Genkai sat there in silence, giving Yusuke time to process what-

"You're the dumbass," Yusuke said, standing up from the bed. "And I guess so am I. You can't control what other people do. You did your best, same as me. Our hearts just got in the way. We're only human after all."

Genkai looked up at him. He had grown, and she wasn't only referring to his height.

"Glad to see you on your feet again," Genkai said. She then swiftly swept his legs out from under him. "But if you call me a dumbass ever again, I will make you wish you stayed dead. Do you hear me?"

"You crazy old hag!" Yusuke yelled from the floor.

"Whatever. Lets go meet with your friends. You have a lot to catch up on."

Genkai walked away, while Yusuke followed in her footsteps.


	20. Chapter 20: Declaration of War

"Mors is still on the move, huh," Yusuke said. They were all gathered around a table in the middle of the courtyard. After being cooped up inside, both literally and figuratively, it felt nice to be outside again.

"Yes," Kurama answered. "But so far his attacks have been rather...random. He goes for highly populated areas, causes as much havoc as possible, and then moves on."

"Yeah but you guys know where to find him right?" Yusuke asked, looking over at Hiei.

"So far he has managed to cloak himself from my Eye, which is not an easy thing to do," Hiei said.

"What if instead of looking for him, you look for the monsters he creates for his attacks," Genkai suggested.

"That would leave us with very little time to react," Kurama said. "We would most likely be unable to prevent the next attack. However, we would be able to put a stop to him once and for all."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kuwabara chimed in.

"Hold on we're not done yet," Yusuke said. "We're going to have to be careful when we're fighting Mors. He has the ability to...what the hell is that?"

Yusuke looked up at the sky, then the others followed suit. There was a thin streak of fire falling from the sky, heading right for Genkai's manor. There was a loud _boom_ as the object crashed just outside of the gate.

Surprised, everyone got up from the table and ran to find out what it was. Dust from the impact trailed inside the compound as Genkai threw open the gate. In the center of the crater was Botan, who was covered in smoke, dust, and blood.

"Botan!" Yusuke yelled as he dropped next to her.

"Yusuke!" she cried out. "Sensui has attacked Spirit World. Koenma and his father have been sealed away!"

"What do you mean? What's going on?" He asked as he looked her over. She was actually uninjured, despite her appearance. But if the blood wasn't hers...

"There was a huge battle," Botan explained, her whole body shaking. "Sensui tracked down Koenma and took him as prisoner. King Enma came out, demanding the return of his son. That's when Sensui removed Koenma's pacifier and used it to seal them both up."

"Oh my G...wait, what?" Yusuke asked. "Did you say his pacifier?"

"Koenma has been imbuing the pacifier with his spirit energy ever since he was born over 700 hundred years ago. Sensui must have known about it and used it to seal them up."

"Why not just kill them?" Kuwabara asked.

"Even that much energy wouldn't be able to kill them," Genkai said. "Sealing them was the next best thing."

"What about the rest of Spirit World?" Yusuke asked.

"There are still battles going on, but all I could do was run. I'm such a coward," Botan said, lowering her head.

"You did what you had to," Yusuke reassured her.

"So what do we do now?" Kuwabara asked.

"Its only a matter of time before they finish off Spirit World and come down to Earth," Kurama said.

"It already has," Hiei said. "I sense some of Mors monsters on the attack alongside a horde of demons."

"So we have a battle on two fronts," Kurama said. "I suggest we split up."

"Agreed," Yusuke said. "You and Hiei should go take on Mors. Be careful though. He can drain you of all your spirit energy, but he isn't so good with physical attacks. Kuwabara and I will take on Sensui. Genkai and Botan, you two set up some kind of safe haven for anyone looking to escape the hell that's coming down."

"If Mors is the one that brought you back, what will happen to you if I kill Mors?" Hiei asks.

"I don't know," Yusuke lied. "We're just going to have to find out. Now lets go!"


	21. Chapter 21: The End is Near

Hiei and Kurama arrived in the busy center of Tokyo. But while it _was_ busy with just the usual hustle and bustle of businessmen and tourists, it was also being overrun by Mors' monsters. People were running away from the zombies that swarmed over them. They both watched grimly as the people who were killed rose shortly afterwards as another one of Mors' puppets.

"We need to put a stop to this massacre," Kurama said. "Where is Mors?"

"He is on the fifth floor of that building," Hie said, pointing at a business building. "He is overlooking all of his minions in order to control them better."

Without another word Kurama charged into the fray, slicing down the monsters as he ran through them. He stopped halfway and concentrated his spirit energy and swirled the whip in a circle, releasing the energy. The energy cut through all the monsters standing between them and the building.

They ran up to the fifth floor, and they stopped in surprise at how empty it was. The only thing in the entire floor was Mors, looking out the window into the city.

"That was an interesting attack you used," Mors said as he turned to face them.

"End this madness now before we end you," Kurama replied.

"Straight to business I see. Very well."

With a flick of the hand two golems appeared in front of Mors, one made of earth, the other fire.

"I'll take the earth," Kurama said.

"I'll take the fire," Hiei said.

They moved for the attack when suddenly the floor shook. The hand of an earth golem formed around Hiei's leg and dragged him down to the floor below, while a dozen fire golems filled the room, surrounding Kurama.

"Rule number one," Mors said eerily. "Never tell the enemy your preference."

Kurama raised his whip to the ready as he struggled to think of what to do next.

"Why do _I_ get to hang off this thing while you ride in comfort?" Kuwabara whined.

Botan had enchanted her oar to auto-pilot them to spirit world, with Yusuke sitting on top. That left Kuwabara to hang on for dear life underneath.

"Because I already died twice; there's no point in tempting fate," Yusuke replied.

"You can't keep playing that card forever, Urameshi!"

"I know, I know."

_Just__until__Hiei__and__Kurama__defeat__Mors__. __Then__after__that__, __who__knows__..._ Yusuke thought.

"How long does this stupid thing take to..." Kuwabara trailed off.

They had broken into Spirit World, and they overlooked a huge battle between demons and the ogres defending their homeland. There was so much chaos going on underneath them that it was impossible to determine who was winning.

They continued on to Koenma's palace, and the oar flew to the roof of the shortest watchtower. Demons had already been stationed throughout the palace, and quickly sounded the alarm. Kuwabara let go of the oar and drew his Spirit Sword, striking down one of the demons as he landed.

Yusuke jumped off the oar and kicked the demon down with his landing, and did a shotgun blast to clear the tower of the rest. Despite their quick victory, the floor shook as more demons scrambled their way towards them from within the palace.

"So what now?" Kuwabara asked.

"You tell me. You're the one with the freakish sixth sense," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara's eyes squinted as he scanned the castle for who knows what.

"Most of the castle is overrun by demons. I'm sensing some human Spirit Energy from the tower across from us. And there is a spot in the basement where I am not sensing anything. Its like it doesn't even exist."

"That must be where Koenma and his dad are," Yusuke said. "You head over there. I'm taking on Sensui in the tower."

"I'm coming with you," Kuwabara said.

"Why? Its faster if we split up," Yusuke said.

"Because Sensui is not the only one in that tower. Keiko is in there too," Kuwabara said solemnly.

"What?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"She's at the bottom of the tower with a bunch of demons. It might be a trap."

"Damn it, Keiko! She knew I would come running to take on Sensui."

Yusuke looked over the ransacked palace as he thought about what to do.

"Well..." Kuwabara prodded.

"We stick to the plan," Yusuke answered. "We can't waste any time. The sooner we get Koenma out, the better our chances of saving Spirit World.

"You sure you can take on Keiko again?"

"Yeah. Now I know for sure which side she is on. After that, I'll be ready for Sensui," Yusuke said.

"Alright then, Urameshi. Good luck," Kuwabara said, shaking his hand.

"You too," Yusuke said.

The first round of demons poured onto the roof, and the two friends began their assault.


	22. Chapter 22: The Pieces are in Place

Botan flew between the giant skyscrapers of central Tokyo, watching as Hie and Kurama cut through the horde of zombies and make it inside one of the buildings. She looked grimly over at Genkai who was sitting behind her on the oar they enchanted from the estate. Genkai simply pointed at a large hotel two blocks down. Botan nodded in understanding and made a beeline for it.

They landed at the front entrance and Genkai immediately ran out to the nearest group of zombies and attacked. Botan barged into the hotel and immediately began to shout orders.

"Listen up!" Botan demanded. "My friend and I are going to go out there and start rounding up survivors! I need all of you to fetch clean towels, sheets, and water to help treat any of the wounded! If you don't like it, you're going to have to answer to her!"

Botan pointed outside the large window and they saw Genkai do a shotgun blast of spirit energy, taking out 7 zombies at once. The people immediately started rushing to grab everything she asked for.

Hiei dashed between the dozen or so earth golems, slicing at them with his sword. Each strike was met with a _clink_ sound as the blade was deflected by their stone bodies. Hiei was surprised that he was not able to cut through the stone, and realized the stone was most likely being hardened by Mors spirit energy.

_Well__this__is__annoying_, Hiei thought as he dropped his sword.

Hiei then focused his demon energy on his fists, which caused them to burst into flames. He then dashed once again between all the golems, this time striking with his Fists of the Mortal Flame.

With lightning speed he had disintegrated all of the earth golems in the room.

Hiei scoffed as he waded through the rubble to retrieve his sword. Suddenly, a dismembered golem hand had latched onto his ankle, and the golem began to reassemble itself. Not only that one, but all of the golems began to reassemble themselves.

"Enough!" Hiei shouted in frustration. He broke free of the golem's grip and jumped up and smashed through the ceiling, back to the floor Mors and Kurama were on.

Kurama's rose whip caught fire when he attacked the nearest fire golem, much like he expected. But instead of trying a different attack Kurama continued to produce more rose whips and various other plants, all of which burned to ashes.

Mors laughed as Kurma continually sacrificed one plant after another as he dodged each fire golems' attack.

"You'll never win that way," Mors taunted. "Just give up already."

"I'd...rather...not..." Kurama replied, continuing to dodge.

Moments later the floor shook and Hiei came bursting through a newly blasted hole to Kurama's left.

"I'm back," Hiei said simply.

"Well in that case..." Kurama said. He then spread his arms out, and the ashes of so many plants swirled throughout the room. The fire golems began to shrink in size as the flames began to diminish. Less than a minute later the room was empty except for Hiei, Kurama, and Mors.

Kurama lowered his hands, with the ashes following suit.

"Clever," Mors said. "Since the ashes could no longer be burned you used it as flame retardant."

"Its over," Hiei said, and lunged.

Kuwabara and Yusuke punched and slashed their way through what felt like, if not actually, hundreds of demons. A handful of ogres had joined them and would stay behind to guard newly won territory. The hallway ended and they came across a stairway, right leading up and left leading down

"You're to the right, I'm to the left," Kuwabara said.

"I guess this is it," Yusuke said. "Take care of yourself, Kuwabara."

"I'll see you at the victory party."

Yusuke nodded slowly, and then took off. Kuwabara watched him leave, wondering why Yusuke didn't give some kind of snide remark.

_There__'__s__something__he__'__s__not__telling__us_, Kuwabara thought.

Before he could dwell on it more, a pack of demons came running up the stairway, and he immediately charged into them. After a short fight (_these__demons__are__sissies_, he thought), Kuwabara went down the stairs two, sometimes three at a time. He reached the bottom in no time, and he was standing before a plain iron door, no lock whatsoever.

Kuwabara took a breath as he mentally prepared himself for whatever guards there might be. He then reached out and pushed on the door.

It didn't budge.

Kuwabara frowned, and put all of his weight into it.

Nothing.

He took a few steps back, ran up, and kicked it. All it did was make him fall on his ass.

"What the hell is this crap?" Kuwabara cried out in frustration.

Kuwabara then heard whispers coming from the door. He then got the idea to use his Spirit Sword on the door. He sliced through it like butter. Apparently it was not an actual physical door, but part of the seal.

When he cut through it Kuwabara sensed a massive amount of spirit energy, and there was a loud _crack_ as the door broke apart from the pressure.

The toddler Koenma waltzed through the doorway, the only thing different was he was missing his pacifier.

"Well thank you, Kuwabara," Koenma said. "Now let's kick these demons out of my castle."

Yusuke ran up the stairs as fast as he could, his heart pounding at the thought of having to fight Keiko again. It had almost killed him inside when he hit her the last they fought, and she nearly finished him off. Even if he managed to avoid fighting her, he was sure that once his friends killed Mors they were both dead anyways.

His thoughts were broken by a group of demons screaming and charging down the stairs towards him. He stopped in his tracks and instinctively fell into his fighter's stance. A moment later when they were closer he broke his stance and instinctively looked on in confusion.

The demons were not screaming as part of their charge, they were screaming in fear. The demons stampeded right past Yusuke, leaving him alone in the stairway. He remained standing there until he was sure they were not coming back, and then resumed running up the stairs. He reached a large room that smelled like charcoal, and once again stopped dead in his tracks.

Keiko was standing alone in the room, surrounded by charred corpses of demons.

"Took you long enough to get here," Keiko said placidly. "I was running out of excuses to give as to why we weren't attacking you and Kuwabara."

"What the hell is going on?" Yusuke asked.

"I told you I brought you back for a reason," Keiko said, taking a step towards Yusuke. He took a step backwards, not sure if he could trust her just yet. "I stayed with Mors as a spy once I heard that Sensui was planning on attacking Spirit World. I figured you and the others could use some inside information."

"So you're here..."

"To help you, yes," Keiko finished for him. "This isn't a trick. I know that Kurama and Hie are fighting Mors; and I know what will happen to us when they win."

Keiko took another step forward, only this time Yusuke did not retreat. She slowly walked up to him and held his hand in hers.

"Lets end this together, Yusuke."

Yusuke looked down at her, a tear streaming down his cheek. He then held her hand, and they both took off running to Sensui.


	23. Chapter 23: The Final Fight

Yusuke and Keiko finally made it to the top floor of the tower. They heard the muffled sounds of a conversation on the other side of the door.

"How many are with Sensui?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't know," Keiko replied, looking confused. "I saw Sensui come up here alone."

Yusuke placed his ear on the door to listen in. He heard at least three distinct voices, with the possibility of more, but it was hard to tell. Some of them sounded similar to each other.

"Sounds like a party in there," Yusuke whispered to Keiko. "Let's hope they saved us some cake."

Yusuke kicked in the door, his fist glowing with spirit energy in preparation for a shotgun blast. He stopped in confusion as he locked eyes with a single enemy. Keiko followed him into the room, her eyes searching from top to bottom for any other signs of life.

"Are you Sensui?" Yusuke asked the man.

"Depends," the man simply replied.

Keiko shuddered at the sound of the man's voice. It wasn't so much that the voice was creepy, it was actually rather pleasant. What made her so scared was how much the man sounded like Yusuke. As she looked into the man's eyes, she realized they didn't just sound alike, they even looked alike. It was as if she was catching a glimpse of Yusuke's future as a spirit detective.

That is, if fate hadn't already decided otherwise.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Yusuke said. "Next question: Where are your friends at?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Cut the crap, I heard two other voices in the room. Where are they?"

"Oh that," the man said. "Well, I'll never tell."

"Suit yourself," Yusuke said, and charged.

The man smiled slightly as he easily avoided Yusuke's first punch. Undeterred, Yusuke shifted his balance and did a spinning back kick, which the man avoided as well. Yusuke threw a volley of punches, and the man quickly blocked each one. Yusuke jumped and kicked, pushing off as the man blocked with his arms.

"Hit it Keiko!" Yusuke yelled as he created the gap.

There was a flash as Keiko sent flames at the man using her spirit energy. The man screamed in pain as the flames began to singe his flesh. He dropped to the ground and rolled to put out the fire. Yusuke ran up to knock him out with a punch. There was a loud _bang_ and this time it was Yusuke who was on the floor rolling in pain.

Yusuke looked down at his leg and saw blood pour out of a bullet hole.

"Oh my god! Yusuke!" Keiko screamed, running towards to him.

There was another _bang_, and Keiko heard something whizz past her ear. She dropped low to the ground, and saw the man, no longer on fire, pointing at her. The end of his arm had been transformed into a gun.

"Stay where you are, bitch!" the man yelled in a gruff voice.

His voice had completely changed, as well as his demeanor. Before he seemed calm, and in control. Now there was nothing but hatred pouring from his eyes and contorted face.

Yusuke was on his back, using his good leg to slowly back away from his (_new__?_) opponent. The man quickly walked up to Yusuke and picked him up by his hair. Yusuke began to scream from the pain, but the man shoved the gun barrel into Yusuke's mouth.

Keiko watched in utter horror as tears streamed down her face. She wanted to attack, but the man would surely kill Yusuke at any sign of movement. There was nothing she could do.

"Yusuke you jerk!" Keiko yelled. "You can't just leave me now! Not when we are supposed to finally be together! Fight him, Yusuke! FIGHT!"

The man took his eyes of Yusuke for a second. Yusuke focused his spirit energy, feeling it course through his whole body. He felt his energy regenerating the muscle and skin lost from the bullet hole. The spirit energy rushed throughout his whole leg, and then Yusuke kicked at the man, unleashing it into a Spirit Wave attack.

The man fired the gun, but the barrel had been pointing just above Yusuke's head and missed. Keiko seized the opportunity and covered the man in flames. The man began to scream as he collapsed into the yellow flames.

Keiko ran over to Yusuke, who grimly watched the man in the glowing center of fire. Keiko grabbed Yusuke's hand, and he turned away from the grisly scene and wrapped his arms around Keiko.

"I heard you were looking for me," the man said from behind them.

The two broke their embrace and were shocked to see the man calmly standing up in the midst of the flames.

"Who are you?" Yusuke gasped.

"I'm the one you've been looking for," Sensui said. "I am Shinobu, your _real_ opponent."

"What are you talking about?" Keiko asked. "We've been fighting you this whole time.

"No. You haven't," Sensui said coldly. "The horrors of Demon World were too much for me to bear. I somehow managed to separate those memories from my conscious mind and as a result of that I have developed multiple personalities. At first it was terrifying, but now I find it quite thrilling."

"So its like bungee jumping for the criminally insane," Yusuke smirked.

Keiko kept her eyes on Sensui in silence.

"Cute. You know you should be honored," Sensui said. "I very rarely have to take matters into my own hands. Fewer still get to see what I'm about to show you."

"I hope its not your junk because-" Yuske started.

A shockwave suddenly sent both him and Keiko flying back. Sensui was covered in almost a heavenly golden glow of energy. Yusuke had never seen or felt anything like it before. And he was terrified of it.

"This fight is over," Sensui said.


	24. Chapter 24: The Sudden Stop

Hiei stood over the two halves that were the defeated necromancer, and let out a long sigh.

"Did they stop?" Hiei asked.

"Yes, the horde is just laying on the ground," Kurama said, looking down at the street from the 5th story window.

The panic amongst the survivors had broken, and they were now organizing rescue parties to help find and treat the wounded. Say what you want about humanity, but in the end they always help one another.

"Do you think Yusuke is..."

"No," Kurama said, a tear flowing down his cheek. "I don't think he is alive."

Sensui looked down at Yusuke and Keiko's lifeless bodies, and scoffed. It would seem Mors had been killed, and the strings to his undead puppets had been cut. That included the two would be heroes sent to stop him. No matter. Mors was merely a distraction, and he was well on his way to victory after sealing-

"SENSUI!" A voice boomed seemingly from all directions.

Sensui, however, was unfazed by show of power.

"So somebody let the Great Koenma out of his playpen. You must be thrilled." Sensui yelled, turning his head in all directions.

"Oh I've been on time outs that were much longer than that," Koenma said from the doorway. He had resumed his toddler form, minus the pacifier. "I imagine the time out I get for the mess you've made on my watch is going to be at least 10 years."

"Poor baby," Sensui said, mockingly. "Were you on time out when I was trapped in Demon World? Is that why you just left me there?!"

"I never meant to leave you there," Koenma said, his voice heavy. "I thought you had been killed, and I couldn't risk any more demons pouring into the human world. I'm -"

"DON'T YOU SAY IT!" Sensui exploded, his Sacred Energy gushing out. "I don't want to hear you say you're sorry! I want you to suffer!"

"And I want this to end without hurting you," Koenma said, holding his hand up high. "Looks like neither of us will get what we want."

Sensui screamed and began to charge, and Koenma quickly brought his hand down to signal.

Suddenly a giant fist the size of half the room smashed through the ceiling and crushed Sensui in a split second. King Enma withdrew his fist, and wiped what was left of Sensui off his kuckles.

"I'm sorry, Sensui," Koenma said, and walked away.

Genkai, Botan, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Koenma looked somberly at the two recently filled graves. Hiei watched from some trees nearby, unable to publicly show his mourning. Almost a week had passed since Sensui's attack, and the world had chalked up the attacks to some form of bio-terrorism. No one besides the assembled party knew what had really happened that day, and the sacrifices that were made to stop it.

"Why can't you bring them back?" Kuwabara asked, looking over at Koenma. "You did it for Urameshi once before."

"Because they have earned the right to rest in peace," Koenma said. "They are being well taken care of in Spirit World, I can assure you."

"Its just not fair," Kuwabara pouted.

"Life is never fair," Genkai simply said.

Botan began to sob quietly. While she ferried spirits from the human world into Spirit World, she wasn't allowed to follow the spirits to their final destination, whether it was good or bad.

"Come now," Kurama said. "They would not want us to spend all day out here in the cold."

"Yeah, you're right," Kuwabara mumbled.

They all slowly walked back towards Genkai's mansion, telling stories of the two fallen heroes.

Hiei dropped down from his hiding spot, and laid down his sword on Yusuke's grave.

"You fool," he said, and then walked away.


End file.
